Grey Skies Fallen return with their first album in five years, Cold Dead Lands

NOTE TO THE BAND, I AM A FAN AND THAT IS WHY I COVER YOU.

Grey Skies Fallen return with their first album in five years, Cold Dead Lands, via their own label, Xanthros Music. The 5th album in the band’s 23-year career is a dire warning for humanity to reign in its greed or face the recursions. Those repercussions include a wilted, grey-hued earth starving of life. Cities lie in ruins. Humanity no longer basks in the sun but languishes in the shadows under the guise of gas masks. The sound of crows is deafening as they pick apart remnants of our bloated bodies. Cover artist, Travis Smith (Nevermore, Opeth) conveyed the album’s overwhelming sense of desolation through hazy brown hues and cold stones.




The group animates their bleak visions through an eclectic mix of melodic death metal, doom, prog and hints of black metal. Cold Dead Lands marks the first album without keyboards, resulting in a more streamlined, doom-addled product. Now a three-piece consisting of Rick Habeeb (guitars, vocals), Tom Anderer (bass), and Sal Gregory (drums), the group express various emotions through lush guitar melodies harmonized with soulful clean vocals, and abysmal dirges coupled with scowling growls and savage shrieks. 




Legendary Swedish producer and musician, Dan Swanö left an indelible mark on the mix. The crystal clarity of the album is apparent upon the first note on the opener, “Visions From the Last Sunset,” which provides a chasm depth to their seismic reverberations. This track’s colossal blending of strings and skins instills a flowing impetus heard throughout the album.  




The album contains only six songs but has a total playtime over 53 minutes. “Visions From the Last Sunset” and “Picking Up the Pieces,” weigh in at over 11 minutes, while “After The Summer Comes the Fall” is over ten-minutes long. Cold Dead Lands is not a doom album that languishes in slow tempos. Each track features a number of changes, resulting in an engaging flow while maintaining down-tempo and medium paces characterized by the doom metal sub-genre.




Written in 2015 while the band were still a five-piece,  “Procession to the Tombs” exemplifies the band’s progressive scope. Medium paced trudges and downtempo dirges outline forlorn, ringing guitar harmonies accentuated by soaring solos. Although Rick Habeeb presents haunting clean vocals, the band maintain an aggressive stance through agonized harsh vocals through the majority of the song. A holdover from the band’s previous period, the ending was lengthened for a grander, doomy unfurling. “Picking up the Pieces” highlights the dynamic nature of the album with an epic heavy metal beginning and mournful, hopeless ending.




Grey Skies Fallen improved their powerful compositions with the help of friends. Will Smith (Buckshot Facelift, Artificial Brain, Afterbirth) adds a guttural dimension to “Picking Up the Pieces.” Dan Gargiulo of Revocation and Artificial Brain plays a guitar solo to conclude the album. He steps further up the stairway to heaven laid down by Habeeb’s billowy, Pink Floydish notes.




Album credits

-Produced by Grey Skies Fallen

-Mixed and Mastered by Dan Swanö

-Recorded and engineered by Keith Moore at Audio Playground

-Cover Art by Travis Smith



Cold Dead Lands Tracklisting

    Visions from the Last Sunset
    Cold Dead Lands
    Procession to the Tombs
    Picking Up the Pieces
    Ways of the World
    After the Summer Comes the Fall


Grey Skies Fallen Lineup:

Rick Habeeb (vocals, guitars)

Tom Anderer (bass)

Sal Gregory (drums)





Discography

The Fate of Angels (1999)

Tomorrow’s in Doubt (2002)

Two Way Mirror (2006)

Along Came Life (EP) (2010)

Introspective (EP) (2012)

The Many Sides of Truth (2014)

Cold Dead Lands (2020)

Links

https://greyskiesfallen.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GreySkiesFallen/
https://twitter.com/GreySkiesFallen
https://www.youtube.com/user/CraigGSF
https://www.instagram.com/greyskiesfallen/